My husband and I have an ongoing competition to see who the dogs love more. We judge this entirely on who they decide to sit next to on any given moment. I started using a heated blanket recently and am officially now in the lead.

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Interesting. But perhaps I wasn’t clear enough: it’s about presence per unit time. One can exist near a dog in a way that doesn’t count. Being present to a dog mind requires intentionality.
Interesting. We have a huge purebred female American Akita and a small purebred Pomeranian (who happens to be a huge “throwback” variant of his breed weighing nearly 1/10 he Akita) and my wife is clearly top dog. She is firm with them and gets voluntary compliance with commands while I get a glance at my wife before dogs obey my command 🤣
You men chose the dog poorly then. I chose the puppy of the litter who had just engaged in a 1hr tug of war with his brother at 8wks old, and he STILL had enough energy to engage with us. That was the dog for me. I’m alpha in the house and it’s not even questionable. :)